WEBVTT - How does the snow dragon eat and digest snow?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain with today's question,

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<v Speaker 1>what is a snow dragon and how does it eat

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<v Speaker 1>and digest so much snow? The northern cities of the

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<v Speaker 1>United States have experienced a lot of snow this winter,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of snow, many feet of snow. If you've

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<v Speaker 1>been to Chicago or New York City, you've seen the snow.

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<v Speaker 1>They have a problem because you can only plow so

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<v Speaker 1>much snow before it creates giant snow walls and giant

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<v Speaker 1>snow canyons on the streets of a big city. So,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, if you're in New York City and you're

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<v Speaker 1>a city manager and you need to get rid of

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<v Speaker 1>snow on the street, you can plow it to the

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<v Speaker 1>side only so much because there are part cars on

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<v Speaker 1>the side. And then there's the sidewalk. And if you've

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<v Speaker 1>been to New York City in the evening, you know

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<v Speaker 1>that the sidewalk is important not only for pedestrians, but

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<v Speaker 1>because that's where people put their trash for trash pickup.

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<v Speaker 1>If you pile the sidewalks up with ten ft of

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<v Speaker 1>snow from the streets, then you cut off all pedestrian

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<v Speaker 1>access and you make it impossible to pick up garbage,

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<v Speaker 1>and you have a mess. So you have to do

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<v Speaker 1>something else with the snow. And in the past there

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<v Speaker 1>have only been two options. You can either pick it

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<v Speaker 1>up with front end loaders and dump it into parking

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<v Speaker 1>lots or vacant lots or city parks or someplace like that.

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<v Speaker 1>You pile it up in huge mountains, or you can

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<v Speaker 1>take a front end loader and dump the snow into

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<v Speaker 1>dump trucks and truck it out of the city. Within

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<v Speaker 1>the last few years, a new tool has become available

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<v Speaker 1>to big cities that are experiencing way too much snow.

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<v Speaker 1>It's called the snow Dragon, and it gives city managers

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<v Speaker 1>another option. A snow dragon and machines like it from

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<v Speaker 1>other manufacturers are giant and snow melting machines that will

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<v Speaker 1>melt snow on the spot. If you've ever seen a

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<v Speaker 1>snow dragon, you know that it's a fairly simple device.

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<v Speaker 1>It's form is a big trailer that you would pull

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<v Speaker 1>behind a truck, and part of the trailer is a

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<v Speaker 1>large diesel engine and a large diesel burner, and the

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<v Speaker 1>other part of the trailer is a huge tank into

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<v Speaker 1>which front end loaders can dump snow. So in operation

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<v Speaker 1>you have front end loaders pulling up and dumping snow

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<v Speaker 1>into the tank. And in that tank there's a large

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<v Speaker 1>quantity of water, you know, maybe ten thousand gallons of

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<v Speaker 1>water or something like that. That water is being pumped

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<v Speaker 1>by a diesel powered pump through a heating unit, a

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<v Speaker 1>diesel powered heating unit to get warmed up, so it's

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<v Speaker 1>pumped out of the tank through the heater back into

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<v Speaker 1>the tank through spray nozzles, and this gives a snow

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<v Speaker 1>dragon a way to melt snow very very quickly, because

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<v Speaker 1>hot running water is the enemy of snow, so as

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<v Speaker 1>snow goes in, it gets turned into water, and as

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<v Speaker 1>more snow gets in, the water overflows out of pipe

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<v Speaker 1>and it's then just run into the normal sewer system

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<v Speaker 1>or the street drainage system of the city. Snow dragons

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<v Speaker 1>and the machines like it are not cheap. They cost

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<v Speaker 1>about a quarter of a million dollars each, and they're

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<v Speaker 1>fairly expensive to operate. They cost about three hundred dollars

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<v Speaker 1>an hour to operate because they're burning forty or fifty

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<v Speaker 1>gallons of diesel fuel per hour to generate the heat

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<v Speaker 1>that's needed to melt the snow. But the advantages They

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<v Speaker 1>can process something like thirty tons of snow per hour,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a huge quantity of snow, and you have

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<v Speaker 1>to compare that cost to the cost of trucking. So

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<v Speaker 1>if you were loading that snow into dump trucks and

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<v Speaker 1>hauling it for miles outside the city, that would have

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<v Speaker 1>a cost for the dump trucks and for the fuel

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<v Speaker 1>to fuel those dump trucks. So by comparison, a snow

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<v Speaker 1>dragon actually starts to look fairly reasonably priced, probably even

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<v Speaker 1>lower costs than a large scale dump truck operation. The

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<v Speaker 1>next time you're in a big city and there's a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of snow, keep an eye out for front end

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<v Speaker 1>loaders that are moving the snow around. Generally speaking, they'll

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<v Speaker 1>either be moving it into a parking lot or into

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<v Speaker 1>a dump truck, or they'll be loading it into one

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<v Speaker 1>of these new snow dragon machines. Be sure to check

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<v Speaker 1>out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join

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<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Work staff as we explore them as promising

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